Surface Pro 7 flickers with every external monitor

Anonymous
2019-12-19T15:19:53+00:00

When I connect an external display while the Surface is already turned on, the external display is flickering. When I restart the Surface with the external monitor already attached everything works fine. Disconnecting the Surface then and reconnecting

  • same problem. The flickering appears with different monitors, different cables and with different connectors (Surface Dock or USB-C). I have the 16 GB, i7 Version of the Surface 7 with an up to date OS.
Surface | Surface Pro | Display and screen

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  1. Anonymous
    2020-05-23T22:56:31+00:00

    After this firmware update I still get 514 error logs, but I didn't see any flickering issue since new update. 🤔

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  2. Anonymous
    2020-05-23T14:46:56+00:00

    Awesome, many thanks for the insights!!  

    Fyi - support told us it was the dock (so we bought another), the cables (so we bought a variety), then it was blamed on our monitors (which they said were not Win 10 compatible despite us running multiple Win 10 Surface Pro’s on the same monitors).  

    Really disappointed in the lack of support from Microsoft on this matter.

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  3. Anonymous
    2020-05-23T08:37:19+00:00

    Kim, would you mind letting us know if your setup is still working after completing the Insider update?  We’ve been at this same issue for nearly two weeks, having tried multiple docks, a half dozen cables, and numerous calls with support.  Stumbled on this thread tonight as we were readying our replacement SP7 request...your post has given us hope!

    Hi, I have been running that last Insider update for the last 36 hours and haven't had a single graphics issue.

    I too was very close to returning the SP7 as was convinced it was a hardware or soldering issue. It was just a luxury that we had bought 24 of these, so I could keep unpacking them and trying the next one. That's when became certain it was software updates causing it, then I had the tip off new Firmware's were just put on Insider.

    My successful testing has been solely with the SP7, Surface Dock and 1x UHD external monitor. I haven't gotten around to testing the Satechi USB-C to HDMI Dock yet or the USBC-HDMI cable, but I am confident they will all be working fine now as there hasn't been any spurious event log entries like there was before.

    My only issue, Windows 2004 has had two sad face crashes but seems to be something else. This was while the system was asleep. 

    I'm pleased with this outcome, as I was prepared to be boxing all 24 back up and returning them - and I wasn't about to take any form of "you need Surface Dock 2" as a way out. (unless they paid for them...) Now I just have to figure out the implications for the other 23 Surfaces. It would be nice for Microsoft to tell us whether it is these new Firmware's alone that fix this display problem and if they can, release those independently of Windows 2004, so we can get on and deploy the firmware's across our fleet of brand new SP7s while we wait for the official 2004 release. 

    What an experience!!

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  4. Anonymous
    2020-05-23T07:45:56+00:00

    Hi there, since the last update(s) i don't have the flicker problem anymore.

    My actual data:

    • Surface Pro (5. Gen), Modell 1796 i7
    • Surface Dock Firmwareversion: 18.2203.368.0 DP: 18.2165.368.0
    • Did all windows updates

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  5. Anonymous
    2020-05-23T07:03:03+00:00

    When I connect an external display while the Surface is already turned on, the external display is flickering. When I restart the Surface with the external monitor already attached everything works fine. Disconnecting the Surface then and reconnecting

    • same problem. The flickering appears with different monitors, different cables and with different connectors (Surface Dock or USB-C). I have the 16 GB, i7 Version of the Surface 7 with an up to date OS.

    Update to Windows Build 2004 and Firmwares 13.0.1319.2 and 8.123.140.0 through Insiders Update looks promising.

    It took over 2 hours to install on my SP7 but finally graphics appear stable.

    The Intel driver hasn't changed, but I haven't seen a single event log entry like previously including when coming out of sleep mode. 

    Am going to go to sleep myself now... see how it runs tomorrow.

    Kim, would you mind letting us know if your setup is still working after completing the Insider update?  We’ve been at this same issue for nearly two weeks, having tried multiple docks, a half dozen cables, and numerous calls with support.  Stumbled on this thread tonight as we were readying our replacement SP7 request...your post has given us hope!

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